Ant feeder



Oct. I I I B, ROSEFIELD ANT FEEDER Filed Feb. 22, 1944 INVENTOR. John B. Rose-held ATTQRNEYS Patented Oct. 19, 1948 UNITED Y S TATES PATENT OFFICE ANT FEEDER John B. Rosefield' fiedmont, Calif. Application February 22, 1944, Serial No. 523,388

7 Claims.

This invention relates to feeders for Argentine and other type ants, whereby poisonous substances are made available to the insects to be exterminated.

In the prior art there are innumerable devices designed to contain poisonous materials, usually in liquid form, to serve as feeders and designed to be set adjacent ant runs. Many of these devices are containers which must be initially filled by the retail purchaser and others employ special auxiliary closure means which are intended to be substituted by the user for the conventional factory applied closure. Still other devices utilize specially designed closure caps, applied at the factory, which must be punctured or otherwise manipulated to produce entrance ports through which the ants may pass to partake of the poisonous contents.

From the standpoint of the manufacture and the retail purchaser it is considered more desirable to provide a container which may be filled at the factory and made ready for use in ant control by some simple step taken by the retail purchaser. Attempts have been made to meet this general objective, however, it has been observed that they are not universally accepted because of the complexity of the devices and the excessive cost of manufacture.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an ant feeder which may be factory filled with a liquid poisonous substance and made ready for the dispensing of its contents by an extremely simple operation. It is an additional object of this invention to make such a feeder avai able at prices comparable to those prevailing for non-dispensing containers of like size.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a feeder which, in addition to the abovestated objects, may be readily opened and refilled as its contents are consumed.

In the drawings wherein preferred forms of the invention are illustrated,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of an ant feeder embodying the principles of the invention, partly in section for purposes of clarity, and

Figure 2 is a side elevation of a second form of ant feeder utilizing the principles of the invention, also shown partly in section to more clearly illustrate itsgconstruction.

.The container I0, illustrated in Figure 1, is of a conventional cylindrical shape, having a reduced neck portion ll, externally threaded as at |2. The container is adapted to be closed by the usual cap [3, provided with internal threads M to engage the neck threads l2.

the threaded portion of the neck The neck ll of the container I0 has a flange I5 on which is disposed a gasket IE to serve as a sealing means when screw cap I3 is fully turned on threads l2.

A plurality of entrance ports I 8 are made in These are sufl'iciently large in diameter. to permit simultaneous entrance and exit by lines of worker ants. It will be noted that the ports I18 are disposed toward the bottom of the threaded neck II and adjacent the flange l5, so that when cap 13 is fully turned on the threads |2 the said ports i8 will be sealed off to effectively close container IE] and permit shipment thereof without danger of loss of its liquid contents.

With the ports I8 thus located it will be appreciated that in order to put the feeder into use it will be necessary only to unscrew cap l3 on threads |2 to a point at which the bottom edge of the cap will be above the ports |'8, while still engaging the uppermost of the threads I 2. This position of cap I3 is illustrated in Figure 1. The feeder may be closed by simply turning screw cap l3 fully home on threads I 2 to abut gasket Hi.

In Figure 2 the feeder takes a slightly different form in which the container 20 is provided with a reduced neck portion 2|, internally threaded, as at 22, to receive a cap 23 of the threaded plug type. In this form the ports 24 are likewise disposed adjacent the lowermost end of the threaded area 22 of the neck portion 2|. Disposed within the neck 2| and below the threaded area 22 thereof there is provided an annular flange 25 to support a gasket 26 serving as a sealing seat for the bottom edge of plug closure 23. Flange 21 on plus 23 abuts the top of container 20 when the plug is fully screwed into the receptacle.

When the container 20 is filled at the factory plug 23 is turned fully into neck 2| and a liquid tight closure of the container 20 is obtained. When put into use by the retail purchaser plug 23 is partially unscrewed to open the ports 24 to permit free entrance by the insects.

While the devices forming the subject matter of this invention have been illustrated in the accompanying drawings as made of glass and metal, it will be appreciated, of course, that such materials 'are in no wise critical and resort may be had to the full list of materials available and useful in the container art without lessening the effectiveness of the devices.

It will be appreciated from the foregoing that the invention disclosed herein may take forms other than those illustrated and described as the preferred forms and therefore protection is desired in accordance with the full scope of the appended claims.

The invention claimed is:-

1. An insect feeder comprising a container having a filling opening and a threaded portion associated therewith, a member adapted to close the filling openings by engagement with the threaded portion of the container, and insect entrance ports disposed in the threaded portion of the container.

2. An insect feeder comprising a container having a filling opening and a threaded portion disposed below said filling opening, a member engageable with the threads to close the filling opening, and insect entrance ports through the wall in the threaded portion of the container.

3. An insect feeder comprising a container having a filling opening and a threaded portion disposed below said filling opening, a member engageable with the threads to close the filling opening, and insect entrance ports in the threaded portion of the container adapted to be closed off when the closure member fully engages the threads and opened when the closure member is in partial engagement with the threads.

4. An insect feeder comprising a container having a filling opening and a threaded portion disposed below said filling opening, a member engageable with the threads to close the filling openings, insect entrance ports in the threaded portion of the container adapted to be closed off when the closure member is fully engaged with the threads and opened when the closure member is in partial engagement with the threads, a flange at the bottom-of the threaded portion of the container, and a gasket on the fiange providing a sealing seat for the bottom of the closure member.

5. An insect feeder comprising a container having a filling opening and a threaded portion disposed below said filling opening, a member engageable with the threads to close the filling opening, insect entrance ports through the wall in the threaded portion of the container adapted to be closed off when the closure member is fully engaged with the threads and opened when the closure member is in partial engagement with the threads, a flange at the bottom of the threaded portion of the container, and gasket means sealing the closure of the filling opening.

6. An insect feeder comprising a container having a filling opening, said container being externally threaded for a portion of its length below the filling opening, a screw cap engageable with the threads to close the filling opening, insect entrance ports through the wall in the threaded portion of the container adapted to be closed oil with the screw cap is fully engaged with the threads and opened when the screw cap is in partial engagement with the threads, an external flange on the container at the bottom of its threaded area, and a gasket on the flange providing a sealing seat for the bottom of the closure member.

7. An insect feeder comprising a container having a filling opening, said container being internally threaded for a portion of its length below the filling opening, a screw plug engageable with the threads to close the filling opening, insect entrance ports through the wall in the threaded portion of the container adapted to be closed 01f when the plug is fully engaged with the threads and opened when the plug is in partial engagement with the threads, an annular flange within the container at the bottom of its threaded area, and a gasket on the flange providing a sealing seat for the bottom of the plug.

JOHN B. ROSEFIELD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 31,046 Whitney Jan. 1, 1861 793,525 Hill June 27, 1905 1,107,206 Schwartzburg Aug. 11, 1914 1,497,960 Todaro June 17, 1924 1,521,962 McCormack Jan. 6, 1925 1,599,408 Cardinet Sept. 14, 1926 2,179,423 Pari Nov. 7, 1939 

